Rwanda told a panel of international arbitrators Wednesday that Britain still owes it $134 million under a contentious refugee resettlement deal that Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped immediately after taking office in 2024. Gen. Emmanuel Ugirashebuja told a hearing at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The arbitration court is likely to take months or more to reach a decision after hearings this week. Under the 2022 deal, migrants were to be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed and, if successful, they would stay. Rwanda launched the arbitration proceedings in January, also alleging that the UK violated part of the deal in which London had agreed to resettle vulnerable refugees from Rwanda.

Source: The Times March 18, 2026 17:14 UTC